AMA welcomes investment in general practice
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA welcomes the Government’s investment in general practice through primary care infrastructure grants.
Dr Hambleton said that the grants – totalling $54 million this round – would enable existing practices to expand and upgrade their facilities.
“Better general practice infrastructure supports more community-based training and more on-site collaborative care,” Dr Hambleton said.
“The grants will enable successful bidding practices to expand their facilities to provide additional rooms for consulting GPs, practice nurses and allied health staff, and for training tomorrow’s medical workforce.
“The grants program is proving popular with both funding rounds to date being oversubscribed.
“This is clearly a sign that existing general practices are keen to expand to continue serving their communities and meet the growing demand for GP primary health care services.
“We encourage the Government to continue investing in existing general practices.
“It is the AMA’s view that enhancing the capacities of existing services is more cost effective and efficient than building new practices from scratch,” Dr Hambleton said.
18 November 2011
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